2/2
Arsenal performance since 2005

Arsenal used to be thought of as the quintessentially English club. While others courted foreign owners and foreign fans, Arsenal retained its North London focus and roots.

Manager Arsène Wenger's 14-year tenure has given the club a distinctly French flavour on the pitch, to the point where it is said to be the second most popular club in France after Marseille.

But it is the arrival of the American sports entrepreneur Stan Kroenke and the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov as major shareholders that has really loosened the English grip.

With the appointment of Ivan Gazidis as chief executive two years ago (who learnt his trade as deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer in the US), a wave of senior managers have now entered the club, including the new Chief Commercial Officer Tom Fox who was part of the National Basketball Association's successful expansion into China.

Some people might regret this, but others might argue that this is exactly how City institutions modernised in the 1980s onwards, bringing in foreign talent and foreign capital to build a global business. And that seems to be where Arsenal is heading. Financially it is probably the strongest football club in England, and possibly in the world once you strip out subsidies from sugar daddies and politicians.

Two weeks ago Arsenal football club reported a healthy profit of £56 million on a turnover of £380 million, paid off its £130 million overdraft and was still sitting on a walloping £128 million of cash (even if this is partly a seasonal effect). Some Arsenal fans might complain that they should spend some of that cash on winning something, but that is neither the Arsenal nor the Arsène Wenger way.

The club meticulously calculates how much income it will earn and the running costs it must cover leaving a residual that it can afford to spend on players, while the economics graduate manager is only willing to buy when he thinks a player will add significant value.

With their central London location, 60,000 seat stadium and 38,000 season ticket waiting list the club could ride out any conceivable emergency.

The growing income from the sale of the Highbury redevelopment is being earmarked for future investment projects which are likely to include the further development of the facilities at the Emirates Stadium as well as supplementing the Club's budget for player spend.

Like the other big clubs, Arsenal is actively pursuing commercial sponsorship deals around the world that are likely to net significant extra revenues in future years. The only comparable cash generator in world football is Manchester United, who, as we all know, is mired in debt.

Are there any clouds on this seemingly sunny horizon? After a five year drought the lack of silverware is beginning to grate, but so long as they continue to compete at the top of the Premier League and in the Champions League they will be secure. The difference between Arsenal and the equally risk-averse (and well-run) Tottenham is that the Gunners have a consistent record of playing among the elite that Tottenham lacks.

Arsenal's problem, paradoxically, is that it is, if anything, too wealthy. If Arsenal were an ordinary business it would have been taken over by a hedge fund that wanted to put the cash pile to work for the shareholders. Arsenal has never yet paid a dividend and the club expresses no ambition to make a profit (so this year's results are almost an embarrassment).

So far the shareholders, past and present, have treated the club like a trust to be managed on behalf of the fans. This is not a bad model for a football club, but if the shares were to fall into the hands of someone who is a little more greedy then all this could change.

If Manchester United is worth over £1 billion, then Arsenal cannot be far behind. And that is an awfully big commercial asset to be sitting there making no money.